The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-10-15
Complied for The Arkdnsnu TTGreIer SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

of cocaine, has been found to result from the external application to the body of the well-known intoxicating drink of the South Sea islanders called kava.
 Popular faith is being nailed to hypnotism in France, where all kinds of ailments and peculiarities are now being treated by the mesmerists. The cure of drunkenness has been attempted by what is called Suggestion" the patient, while "under control" being ordered to abstain from all intoxi- cants, and success is said to have been achieved.
 A CHINESE INDUsTRY.-Rev.B B. c. Henry states that the fan palm of China grows only in the San Ui dis trict, some twenty miles long by ten miles wide. The trees do not yield leaves suitable for fans until six years old. Some trees are said to be over 100 years old, but the tallest measure only about twelve feet. From April to November the leaves are cut monthly, from one to three being taken from each plant. From 10000 to 10000 people are employed.
 BRAIN GROWTH IN INFANCY. - A striking fact deduced from observa- tions recorded by the late Dr. Parrott is the rapid growth of the brain in the first half year of life as compared with tfe increase in height and the growth of other organs. Taking the total growth between birth and six years of age as 100, the weight of the heart increases HAS in girls and 11.88 in boys during their first six months of life; the height increases POS in girls and 11.4 in boys; while the weight of brain increases 2741 in girls and 2S.51 in boys.
 RAPID CoMMUNIcATIoN.-W When the first electric telegraph was established, according to the British postmaster general, the speed of transmission was from four to five words minute on the five-needle instruments. In 1849 the average rate for number of news paper messages was seventeen words minute. The present pace of the electric telegraph between London and Dublin, where the Wheatstone automatic instrument is employed, reaches 462 words minute; and thus what was regarded as miraculous sixty years ago has multiplied hun dredfold in one half century.
 PREHISTORIC MINEs.-An account of some interesting ancient flint mines discovered near Mur-d de Barrez, France has been given by NJ. Marcelin Boule. The Hints formed bed underlying some twenty feet of chalk, in which narrow shafts and galleries, still bear ing the marks of the rude deer-horn picks, were excavated. The roofs of the galleries were supported by pill lars and props, as in modern mining, but the results of cave-ins are still to be seen in tools crushed between fal- len rocks. Near the shafts are the re- mains of ancient workshops, where the flint was worked into various ar ticles used in the age of polished stone.
 THE COLOR OF EYEs.-Extensive reseaches into the heredity of eye colors have led M. Alphonse de Can dOlle to consider it certain that women have a larger proportion of brown eyes than men that where both par ents have eyes of the same color the chances are eighty eight to twelve that the children who reach the age of ten years (when the colors of eyes are fiXed) will have eyes of the same color; and that where the parents have eyes of different colors the chances are forty-five in favor of brown as against blue or gray for the children. He claims that brown eyes are more favorable to health and longevity than the blonde types.
 AN OPERA BELLA new operatic representation in Paris indroduces deep tolling which could ordinarily be given only with a church bell weighing 15,000 pounds. The pro- duction of this deep tone with availa- ble apparatus has been the subject of much study and experiment, and the problem has been finally solved by MT. Sex, of saxophone and saxhorn fame. This he has done with bell of peculiar form weighing only fif- teen pounds. It consists of sheet of brass rolled into the shape of cornet, soldered, and then hammered into su- perposed inflations that finally give the whole a parabolic form. The timbre, pitch end intensity of the sound yielded vary according to the number, form and arrangement of the inflations. In the tolling the vibra- tions are prolonged by means of two saxhorns and small bell sounding two octaves higher, and the result is impressive. This is one of the many modern applications of science to stage effects.
 CREATURES OF YEsTERDAY.-With all his pride at our progress. the